Good morning and happy Friday! Now that we’re clear clear of October and all the discount post-Halloween candy has sold out, society’s moving onto the next holiday. Gingerbread and peppermint drinks are back on the menu at Starbucks and Dunkin’. Don’t fret though: PSLs aren’t going anywhere for a while.

Last night, the House passed a bill to fund aid to Israel by cutting funding to the IRS. Senate leadership says those IRS cuts aren’t going to fly on their side of the capitol.

A preview of today’s news:

• The entire military vs. one senator

• Three Trumps testify

• An insane political scandal

• Tupac’s alleged murderer

• And much more!

Here’s today’s edition of The Elective:

 SENATE 

Sen. Tuberville vs. the Department of Defense

A single Senator from Alabama has prevented more than 300 military promotions since February. Many of the promotions being held up are high level jobs like chief of naval operations.

What’s the Senate got to do with military promotions?

Federal law saw the president must appoint and the Senate must confirm all military officers above a certain rank. For the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force that’s all types of Majors, Colonels, & Generals. For the Navy and Coast Guard those ranks are called Commanders, Captains, and Admirals.

The Senate approves hundreds or thousands of these promotions per year. They’re typically approved unanimously and in large blocks.

Okay. How does one guy hold that up?

The Senate’s a strange, strange place. One senator can place something called a hold on a nomination (or entire category of nominations). The hold prevents the matter from being voted on.

The only way to get around it is by brute force. But, by Senate rules, that’s not quick. Each step in the process requires tons of time. Plowing through all of Tuberville’s holds could take up to 84 days of work.

Why the holds?

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortion is now illegal in many states. As a result, the Department of Defense will reimburse travel expenses for military personnel who leave their states to gain access to abortions.

Sen. Tuberville is strongly pro-life and opposes this reimbursement policy. So he’s throwing a wrench in the works until the policy changes. In his words, “you’re either pro-life or you're not.”

What’s next?

The Secretary of Defense has called the holds a threat to national security. Senators from both parties have expressed similar feelings. Basically, at this point, they’re sick of it.

Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is pushing a temporary change to Senate rules that would allow them to vote on all the held nominations at once. But, this being the Senate, that would require 60 votes. And not everyone’s on board yet.

 NEWS 

📜 AI: At the AI Safety Summit in the United Kingdom, leaders from 28 countries and the European Union signed an AI safety agreement. The Bletchley Declaration says in part, “We resolve to work together in an inclusive manner to ensure human-centric, trustworthy, and responsible AI.” The summit was led by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and opened with remarks from King Charles III. Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo led the American delegation. Technology executives, including Elon Musk, also attended. A Chinese representative called proper AI governance a “common task” of all humanity. The declaration is nonbinding and nonspecific. But it gets the international ball rolling on AI governance. A follow-up summit will take place in six months in South Korea. For the text of the document and a list of countries attending, click here.

⚖️ Trump: Donald Trump Jr. was forced to testify at the Trump Organization’s $250 million civil (not criminal) fraud trial in New York this week. The case, brought by New York’s attorney general, accuses Trump Organization executives — including the former president and his two sons — of inflating the value of their business to obtain better rates on loans and insurance. The lawsuit seeks a host of damage including ~$250 million and a permanent ban on doing business in NY for involved Trump family members. The trial is expected to last about another two months. Eric and Ivanka Trump will testify soon.

🏠 House: California Rep. Adam Schiff, currently running for US Senate, may or may not actually live in the state. For quality of life reasons, many politicians buy homes in the Washington, D.C. area. Schiff is no different. He has a family home in Maryland and a tiny condo in California. But he's claimed both homes as his primary residence on mortgage documents. And that could be illegal. Experts say he’s likely in no jeopardy due to the vague wording of laws on this front.

But that doesn’t mean it won’t become fodder for his political opponents like the other two major Democrats running for Senate (Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee). Despite the challenges of raising a family while serving in Washington, many longtime politicians have lost elections due to residency issues like this. Politicians who have family homes in D.C. and small apartments in the states they represent are far easier to paint as being out of touch with their constituents. There’s a reason Sen. Chuck Grassley, who’s served in Congress since 1975, makes a point of visiting all 99 of Iowa’s counties each year.

 POLITICS 

🔵 This one’s wild. Amid allegations of fraud, a Connecticut judge ordered a new Democratic primary election for mayor of Bridgeport, CT. The current mayor, Joe Ganim, won the primary back in September. The election day vote went to his opponent, John Gomes. But Ganim won the race after a bunch of absentee ballots came in overwhelmingly in his favor. And a leaked video shows a city employee and Ganim supporter stuffing heaps of absentee ballots into the ballot drop box at 5:41 a.m. Gomes sued (who wouldn’t?) and the judge ordered a new primary. Complicating matters is the fact that the general election is still scheduled for next Tuesday. Ganim is the Democratic nominee and Gomes is running as an independent. The long shot Republican candidate, David Herz (we swear this is all real), was unable to campaign for a few days recently. Why? He was stuck in Israel after visiting family there on Oct. 7 when the Hamas terrorist attacks occurred.

Side note: Ganim also served as mayor back in the 90s…before he spent seven years in prison for racketeering, bribery, and extortion (all related to his job as mayor).

🔴 New York Rep. George Santos (R) survived a vote that would’ve seen him expelled from the House of Representatives. The expulsion bill fell well short of the 2/3 majority required to give him the boot. One of the Democrats who voted no, Rep. Jamie Raskin, said he would not support expulsion until Santos was actually convicted of the crimes with which he’s been charged. The bill was written by a New York Republican representative from a neighboring (Democratic-leaning) district. Needless to say, Santos is very unpopular in the area. His scandals began before he even took office earlier this year.

🔵 On a less scandalous note, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown leads all three of his likely Republican opponents. A new poll from Ohio Northern University shows him beating Ohio’s Secretary of State Frank LaRose 44%-31%, State Sen. Matt Dolan 45%-30%, and businessman Bernie Moreno 48%-26%. These are all great numbers for Ohio’s last remaining powerful Democrat. Brown was first elected in 2006 when his party was much more competitive in the state. Other than him, no Ohio Democrat has won a statewide race since 2008. In 2020, the state voted more Republican than Texas. Brown’s Senate seat is one of the prime targets for Republicans as they seek to win back control of the body next year.

 TRIVIA 

 BRIEFS 

🎵 The Beatles released a new track yesterday. The band’s two living members (Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr) used AI to remove some piano noise and turn an old John Lennon demo into a brand new song.

⚖️ A guy in Las Vegas just pleaded not guilty to the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur. Next on the docket: who killed Biggie?

🗿 Archaeologists in Iraq unearthed a gigantic 2,700 year old statue that weighs 36,000 lbs. Built by Assyrian King Sargon II, the statue is of a protective deity called "lamassu." Next step: reattach its head.

🤣 Comedian Taylor Tomlinson, 29, is replacing James Cordon’s post-Colbert slot with a new show called “After Midnight.” Her first challenge? Convince people her age to actually watch late night TV.

💸 A bunch of very angry Wall Street billionaires are fueling a donor revolt of Ivy League universities in response to the schools’ reactions to the Israel/Hamas war.

 QUOTE 

 ANSWER 

Ole Miss (1995–1998)

Auburn (1999–2008)

Texas Tech (2010–2012)

Cincinnati (2013–2016)